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International Journal of Quantum Information

High-rate measurement device-independent quantum key distribution system

Chenlin Xing, Peiyao Zhong, Rongzhen Jiao

Published Aug 1, 2019• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Measurement device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) system is significant for exploring the future communication system because of its outstanding performance in security. In this paper, the key rate of single-photon source and WCP source with common wavelength under ideal infinite-decoy case is analyzed in order to outline the relationship between the key rate and the optimization of light intensity. The performance of the key rate under the simplest situation of finite decoy-state (two decoy-state) is compared. The result may provide important parameters for the practical application of QKD system.

DOI
10.1142/s0219749919500412

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Measurement device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) system is significant for exploring the future communication system because of its outstanding performance in security. In this paper, the key rate of single-photon source and WCP source with common wavelength under ideal infinite-decoy case is analyzed in order to outline the relationship between the key rate and the optimization of light intensity. The performance of the key rate under the simplest situation of finite decoy-state (two decoy-state) is compared. The result may provide important parameters for the practical application of QKD system.
A novel protocol, measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD), removes all attacks from the detection system, the most vulnerable part in QKD implementations. In this paper, we present an analysis for practical aspects of MDI-QKD. To evaluate its performance, we study various error sources by developing a general system model. We find that MDI-QKD is highly practical and thus can be easily implemented with standard optical devices. Moreover, we present a simple analytical method with only two (general) decoy states for the finite decoy-state analysis. This method can be used directly by experimentalists to demonstrate MDI-QKD. By combining the system model with the finite decoy-state method, we present a general framework for the optimal choice of the intensities of the signal and decoy states. Furthermore, we consider a common situation, namely asymmetric MDI-QKD, in which the two quantum channels have different transmittances. We investigate its properties and discuss how to optimize its performance. Our work is of interest not only to experiments demonstrating MDI-QKD but also to other non-QKD experiments involving quantum interference.
Measurement-Device-Independent Quantum Key Distribution (MDI-QKD) enables secure communication without trusting the measurement devices, but its performance critically depends on the quality of the employed photon sources. We compare MDI-QKD implementations based on Weak Coherent Pulses (WCPs) with those employing Quantum Dot (QD) single-photon sources. WCP-based schemes are fundamentally limited by Poissonian photon-number statistics, imposing a trade-off between single- and multi-photon emissions, whereas QD sources exhibit sub-Poissonian statistics with low antibunching parameter g(2)(0)g^{(2)}(0)g(2)(0). Using a decoy-state analysis for both source types, we find that even at moderate mean photon numbers, QD-based implementations outperform the best-case WCP configuration - where the mean photon number is optimised at each transmission distance - across the full range of transmission distances. We further incorporate the effect of imperfect photon indistinguishability via Hong-Ou-Mandel interference visibilities into the security framework and demonstrate that both source types are highly sensitive to even small deviations from ideal indistinguishability, significantly affecting achievable key rates and maximum transmission distance.
The performance of measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) with different numbers of decoy-state are compared. The statistical fluctuation due to the finite length of data is considered based on the standard statistical analysis. The simulation results show that two-decoy-state method is a nearly optimal estimation in the asymptotic case. In the condition of considering statistical fluctuations, the finite length of raw key will slightly decrease the secret key rate. In all simulation cases, the key rate is maximized by optimizing the intensities of the signals. Our numerical simulation may provide valuable theoretical reference for the practical MDI-QKD experiments.
Measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) has been widely investigated due to its remarkable advantages on the achievable transmission distance and practical security. However, the relative low key generation rate limits its real-life implementations. In this work, we adopt the newly proposed four-intensity decoy-state scheme [Phys. Rev. A 93, 042324 (2016)] to study the performance of MDI-QKD with heralded single-photon sources (HSPS). Corresponding simulation results demonstrate that the four-intensity decoy-state scheme combining HSPS can drastically improve both the key generation rate and transmission distance in MDI-QKD, which may be very promising in future MDI-QKD systems.
The ideal measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD), which is immune to all detector side-channel attacks, is built on the Bell state measurement of two single-photon states. However, in practical MDI-QKD where phase-randomized weak coherent pulses (PR-WCPs) are used, the mismatch between states preparation and measurement in X basis leads to the bit error rate of more than 25%, which poses a challenge to the security of QKD. In this paper, we provide a security analysis of practical MDI-QKD based on polarization coding. We analyze the Hong-Ou-Mandel interference of PR-WCPs and Poisson-distributed photon number states (PNs), and find that these two sources are equivalent in MDI-QKD. The security analysis based on entanglement distillation is carried out on PNs, and the measurement results in Z basis and X basis are averaged to overcome the noncorrelation of the error rates in these two bases. Compared with GLLP scheme, a tighter key rate is obtained in this work, and the key rate deviates from the linear key rate bound in a short distance due to the finite proportion of multiphoton terms.
To date, only active-decoy-state methods have been adopted in current measurement-device-independent (MDI) quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols, causing security loopholes when modulating multiple light intensities with practical devices. To solve this problem, the passive-decoy-state method will be a good choice. Until today practical passive-decoy-state MDI QKD is still missing. In this paper, based on a recently discussed structure of heralded single-photon sources, we propose a passive-decoy-state MDI QKD protocol. In present work, one does not need to modulate light sources into different intensities, but utilizes the built-in local detection events to passively generate different decoy states. Furthermore, through carrying out an appropriate mathematical method, we are able to give very precise estimations for single-photon-pair contributions. As a result, our protocol can exhibit distinct advantages compared with state-of-the-art MDI QKD schemes even when the finite-key-size effect is taken into account. Therefore, our protocol seems a promising candidate to enhance both the security and performance of MDI QKD in practical implementation.